


Get Rid of a Problem You’ve Got

by Bury_A_Friend



Category: Firefly
Genre: Episode: s01e14 Objects in Space, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Objects in Space, Rape Aftermath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:40:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23627062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bury_A_Friend/pseuds/Bury_A_Friend
Summary: An alternative ending to Objects in Space if Jubal Early had followed through with his threats.As Kaylee deals with the aftermath, the captain and the crew try to be there for her any way they can.
Relationships: Kaylee Frye & Malcolm Reynolds, Mentions of Kaylee Frye and Simon Tam
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Get Rid of a Problem You’ve Got

**Author's Note:**

> If references to sexual assault or anything like that is a trigger for you, this isn’t the fic for you.

Kaylee stood in the hallway, watching Zoë remove the bullet fragments lodged in Simon’s leg. 

She knew internally she should be glad that they were all safe; that River had saved all of them from him. But all she could hear was his voice echoing in her head, _‘You ever been raped?’_

Before today, she would have answered that with a no. _Now though?_ She shook slightly, the movement aggravating her injuries.

She could feel the pain emanating from deep within, as though he was still there, _inside her_. She could feel the blood trickling down her leg. Not for the first time that evening, she was grateful that she had been in her overalls; none of her injuries were visible to the naked eye, unlike Inara or Simon who’s injuries were visible, all she had were hand-shaped bruises on her hips and arms, a bite mark on her breast and the deep feeling of shame upwelling inside. She hoped, maybe, if she couldn’t see the pain that she could convince herself that it hadn’t happened, that maybe she was okay. She’d been threatened and tied up, _that was all._

Kaylee was so immersed in her thoughts, she didn’t notice the approaching figure.

“Hey.”

A hand touched her shoulder, causing her to jump violently; her heart pounding in her chest and her hands sweaty as fear coursed through her.

The hand instantly retracted, as though burned.

Looking up, she focussed on the face of the captain, who watched her with worry. “Sorry, Cap’n. I’m just a little jumpy. Ain’t mean nothing by it.”

“It’s alright, _Mei Mei_ , we’ve all had a fright tonight, it’s okay if you’re a little... high strung.”

Watching her nod in response, he felt concern rise within him; her usual cheer was lacking and, eyeing her closely, he could see her trembling minutely. As she moved away, her sleeve rode up, displaying a darkening red ring around her hands, his experienced eye telling him they were the result of a rope burn.

“ _Mei Mei_ , what’s this?” He slowly and gently, took her wrist in his hands, bringing the bruise into the light.

Kaylee pulled it back hastily, the feeling of someone touching her causing her skin to crawl. “It’s nothing, Cap’n.”

“Did Early tie you up?”

“Yeah,” She closed her eyes, trying to will away the images and words swirling in her memory, ”but it’s fine, River talked to me after. She helped me escape.”

“We’ll get Wash to tend to your wrists, don’t want nothing getting infected.”

For a lack of an alternative, Kaylee agreed, painting an unconvincing smile on her face. _It’s fine, nothing happened._

Mal watched her shuffle away, concerned. He turned to Inara, “Kaylee seem okay to you?”

“She’s shaken. It must have been real scary for someone to appear out of nowhere like that.”

While he turned back to face the medical bay, where Simon lay bleeding, his mind lingered on Kaylee’s face and the sense of _wrongness_ about her.

“Yeah, that must be it.”

****

The instant Kaylee’d assured herself that Simon was fine, she’d excused herself, citing exhaustion. Hurrying back to her room, she, for the first time since she boarded Serenity all those years ago, locked her bedroom door.

Leaning against the metallic frame, the mechanic slid to the floor crying.

She wrapped her arms around her legs, trying to contain the shaking. All the pain and fear of the last few hours overloading her.

 _‘You_ _throw a monkey wrench into my dealings in any way and your body is forfeit.’_

Early had tied her up, like he said he would. Fear had immobilised her, she’d been able to do nothing but cry. But when her tears had become too loud, he’d said that maybe she needed a _preview_ to keep her quiet. As promised, he’d found a number of _unseemly_ uses for her. When he’d finished, he had put her clothes back together, tightened the rope around her wrists and told her not to move.

She done her best in the hour or so afterwards to move as little as possible. Her body was clearly compensating for that now; she couldn’t stop shivering in shock. Her limbs refused to co-operate or move and all she could do was lie against her bedroom door and cry.

Exhausted, she fell asleep slumped up against the metal frame, wishing that when she opened her eyes again it wouldn’t be real, it would have been a nightmare.

****

Kaylee awoke to the sounds of knocking on her door.

It took her a moment to figure out where she was. She wasn’t in her bed, like she usually was, nor was she on her make-shift cot in the engine room; instead she was lying on the cool, metallic floor beside her bedroom door.

In that moment her mind to caught up, it suddenly all came flooding back: the bounty hunter boarding Serenity, threatening her, _attacking_ her-

Another knock sounded bringing her back to reality.

“Yeah?”

Her voice came out weak and hoarse.

“It’s me.”

Simon. _Of course_ , it was Simon. He probably wanted to check on her after yesterday.

Kaylee’s face crumpled.

She didn’t want him to see her like this. She was still dressed in the clothes from the day before. She could _smell_ Early on her, could _feel_ bodily fluids crusting between her legs, she _hear_ his words whispering to her like a nightmare.

She didn’t want to face him after she’d give in him up like she had; she’d told Early _everything_ he’d wanted to know, right up to where River slept, and that was before Early had even _done_ anything to her.

“I-I’m just getting changed,” Her voice cracked, her throat dry from a night of sobbing, though she hoped, in vain, that it would be attributed to her just waking up from a sleep.“I’ll-I’ll see you in the mess in a bit.”

There was a pause before Simon replied hesitantly, “Yeah, I’ll see you there. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m just shiny.”

She stifled a sob with her hand, attempting to muffle the sound of her misery. _“Just shiny.”_ She whispered to herself.

****

Kaylee entered the mess an hour later, having scrubbed herself raw.

She’d never understood what she’d heard about the need to feel clean after an assault, she never thought she _would_ understand, but she did now. Even after all the scrubbing, she could _feel_ him in her. The way he had invaded her without care or emotion. The way that, even though he hadn’t smiled or even said anything during the attack, she had felt his satisfaction with the act. She felt _dirty_ , and not in the normal greasy way after a long day caring for Serenity, but in a deep, immeasurable way. In a way that she didn’t think would ever go away.

The crew were scattered around the kitchen for a late breakfast, having unofficially received the memo to sleep in after the invasion the night before.

Trying not to make eye contact with the crew, _especially_ Simon, Kaylee quietly moved around the table to grab some toast, though her stomach lurched at the thought. She didn’t notice the concerned eyes of the Captain, Simon and Inara following her unusually passive entrance.

In the background, Jayne was complaining loudly about his lack of involvement in the so-called ‘festivities’ the night before. The steady thrum of his voice unexpectedly put her at ease for the first time since yesterday; his cadence rising and falling without a care for those around him.

Without warning, she felt someone bump into her shoulder. She vaguely heard an apology, but instinctually she was back there, with _him,_ and so without thought she _pushed_ the intrusion away violently.

“Don’t touch me!”

Wash fell to the ground, crashing into the chair behind him, his bowls of cereal spilling onto the floor beside him.

The conversations of the crew around him halted, startled by the sudden commotion. Zoë rushed to her husband’s side, arms under him, helping him to get up.

“I’m-I’m so sorry, Wash. I don’t know what happened, I-I thought-thought you were-“

Kaylee’s voice broke, her apologies halting as she started to tear up.

“Hey, it’s fine, Mei Mei. Wash isn’t hurt, were you Wash?” Mal edged forwards, his attention fixed on Kaylee despite his rhetorical question.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine Kaylee, a bit startled-“, seeing Mal’s face, Wash rushed to continue,”-but fine.”

“Kaylee, are you alright?”

Without waiting for the reply, Mal bustled Kaylee over to one of the still upright chairs, ignoring Jayne’s muttered comments about ‘ _Another woman on the ship gone crazy.’_

_“She’s scared of Santa Claus.”_

River’s macabre voice cut through the tension in the room. Everyone - Book, Jayne, Zoë, Wash, Inara, Simon and Mal - looked at her. The discovery of the extent of her abilities the night before brought new meaning to the nonsense she spouted, but even with that knowledge they couldn’t de-code her riddle.

Kaylee, however could.

_‘Maybe I come down the chimney, Kaylee. Bringing presents to all the good girls and boys.’_

She had wondered after yesterday, since River revealed her almost omniscience on the ship, whether River knew what happened. She supposed this answered her question.

“Stop it.” 

She didn’t realise she’d spoken out loud until she felt the crew’s attention turn back to her and from there inquisitive looks, now she knew there was little hope of them letting the matter go.

_‘I’m gonna give you a present, get rid of a problem you’ve got.’_

“She’s scared of the presents Santa Claus might bring.”

 _“Stop it.”_

Kaylee felt the chill in her bones. She _had_ had the thought that morning, about the extra _presents_ Early might have given her. She had learned about sexually transmitted diseases in school, knew the numerous strands out there. A man that evil could have done this to any number of people, could _have_ any number of diseases. The prospect of getting pregnant wasn’t far from her mind either, granted, it had only been 26 hours, but they were in the middle of space, _alone_ , she may not get the necessary pills in time. Realistically, she knew Inara would probably have some, but then she knew she’d have to explain, say _something_. And Kaylee knew she wouldn’t be able to do that right away; she wanted to pretend it had all been some messed up dream.

“She’s scared people will know what Santa Claus brought.”

“I said _stop it_!”

Her whisper morphed into a shout which echoed around the room.

Instantly, Kaylee knew she wouldn’t be able to walk away from this now; she never shouted, or got angry. She always had a sunny disposition and cheerful optimism. She could count on one hand the amount of times shed been upset on Serenity in her last five years, let alone angry.

“‘M Sorry, River, I didn’t mean to shout.”

She looked at her crew members, wishing the ship would swallow her whole. Her eyes focussing in on Wash, who had Zoë wrapped around him protectively. Simon stood beside River and Book, his body angled forwards, as though he wanted to move forwards and give her a hug. Then there was Inara whose expression had morphed into one of sober understanding. And lastly, Mal, who was crouched beside her, his eyes trying to meet hers.

“Mei Mei, it’s fine. Just talk to me.”

Kaylee shook here head obstinately, tears finally falling from her eyes.

“‘Right, everyone ‘git.” Mal’s eyes not leaving Kaylee’s watery ones. “Kaylee and I need to have a talk.”

Simon hovered by the door, reluctant to leave, not doing so until Inara pushed him firmly out. She closed the door behind the rest of the crew, but didn’t leave herself. Mal frowned.

“I meant everyone, ‘Nara.”

“I’m not leaving, Mal.”

The Captain huffed at the irony of her words, considering her imminent departure date, but remained silent as Inara moved closer to Kaylee and reached for her hands.

Only when Inara knew she had Kaylee’s full attention did she actually ask the question that she already knew the answer to.

“What did Early _do_ , Kaylee?”

Mal felt a chill run through him at Inara’s soft tone. An inclining forming in the back of his mind, but _he wouldn’t have_. Disgust settled in him; he would never forgive himself if he’d let someone break onto _his_ ship and they had-had _forced themselves_ on his crew member, his friend, his _sister_. He didn’t want to believe that he had been safe in his room, while Kaylee had been _suffering_.

“He-He said if I messed up his p-plans that my body would be forfeit,” Kaylee whispered, not looking up from the hands clasping hers. Rage like he’d never known filled Mal, that _Gorram Da Shiong La Se La Ch'Wohn Tian_ had _violated_ his sweet little sister and he had done nothing to stop it. “He said he wouldn’t touch me if I didn’t, but he _lied_.”

Kaylee leaned forwards as she spoke, a sob wracking through her. Inara, instinctually, folded her into a hug, stroking her hair and speaking words of comfort.

Inara’s eyes met Mal’s and she could see her own horror, disgust and distress reflected back at her. The guilt at not seeing Kaylee’s pain the night before; being so wrapped up in everything else that had happened that they hadn’t noticed Kaylee’s world fall apart.

They sat in silence as Kaylee eventually quietened in Inara’s arms, having passed out from fear and exhaustion.

“What do we do?” Mal looked at Inara despairingly. For once, he deferred to Inara’s knowledge and experience, hoping she’d have a plan.

Inara had seen women suffer the same fate that Kaylee now suffered. Companions and small folk alike. Some came through and others lost themselves in their own misery, they withered from lack of self-care and withdrew into the shadows.

She wouldn’t let that happen, not to their sweet Kaylee.

“First, we’ll take her to Simon.”

“You sure that’s the best idea? You know that she and Simon are-are _something_ , you can’t make her tell Simon unless she wants to.”

“She needs to be looked over. Simon’s the only Doctor we have, or do you want to wait a week until we get to the nearest planet in the ‘verse? We need to make sure she hasn’t contracted any diseases.” The thought hadn’t even crossed Mal’s mind, but now it was all he could think; he couldn’t cope if Kaylee got sick and withered because of something so horrific done _to_ _her_. “You take her to the infirmary, I will go and get some pills from my ship; we don’t want her to have to deal with potentially getting pregnant.”

Looking Kaylee’s sleeping form, he felt sick. _How could someone do something so horrific to someone so innocent?_

****

Mal carried Kaylee’s limp form out of the mess hall, ignoring the Sheperd’s worried look and Zoë’s discerning stare following him as he went. As he got closer to the infirmary, he caught eyes with Jayne who was cleaning his gun. He saw the tension in his form, the straight line of him mouth and knew that he wasn’t the only one beating themselves up over how the previous night had gone.

As he arrived at the infirmary, he paused.

How could he break to Simon that _Kaylee_ , of all people, had been hurt _like that_.

“ _Oh my- Kaylee!”_

Simon rushed over to Mal, his hands reaching for Kaylee, checking her vitals. His keen eyes noting the deep bruises encircling her wrists.

He recalled viscerally the night before, Early’s threa _t, ‘-or I go upstairs and spend some time violating the little mechanic I got trussed up in the engine room.’_

Nausea overtook him, but he tamped down on it, trying to focus on the what was happening in the here and now. Mal settled Kaylee onto the medical table, his eyes tentatively meeting Simon’s. There was a moment of silence as Mal tried to decide what to say. Impatiently, Simon cut through the tension.

“Tell me what happened.”

“Early, he...we think he raped Kaylee.”

There was no way he could have prepared himself, Simon’s world shattered with those words. The man who’d held him hostage, who’d threatened him with _hurting_ Kaylee had already followed through with his threats, had hurt one of the people he loved most in the world, in the worst possible way.

“-mon. Simon.”

Mal’s face was the most compassionate he’d ever seen it, which nothing to help his nausea.

“Simon, Kaylee needs you right now. We need to make sure she’s okay, that she’s not-“, his voice broke midway through, but he continued determinedly, ”- _caught_ anything form that gorram húndàn.”

“I-“, Simon shook himself, trying to concentrate on the present and ignore the unwelcome images now swimming behind his eyes, ”Okay. I’ll take some bloods and can treat her visible wounds, but I can’t check for any internal injuries, or any we can’t see, unless she’s awake and allows me to. I won’t do that.”

Mal nodded in agreement.

****

In the interim, the rest of the crew found themselves congregating in the cargo bay, unanimously deciding to worry about Kaylee together.

Jayne wouldn’t often get so worked up over someone getting hurt; it was practically an occupational hazard in their line of work, but Kaylee wasn’t normally the one getting hurt. She never went out on runs, she was always on the ship ready for a quick get away. And Jayne wouldn’t admit it to anyone else on the ship but he was fond of Kaylee, she was one of the few people who’d never judged him or looked down on him. And the idea of someone taking advantage of her kind nature and hurt her didn’t sit well with him.

“Hey, crazy.” Jayne broke the tense silence as he addressed River, “You’re supposedly ‘ _the ship’_ or something, right? Why don’t you tell us what’s going on with the the others?”

Usually, Zoë would walk away and tell Jayne to ‘mind his own business’, but in this one instance she found herself watching River carefully for her response, being just as interested as Jayne in hearing the answer.

Before River could open her mouth, the Shepard chimed in, “I think if Kaylee wanted people to know anything, she would have told everyone.”

“You don’t have to be involved here, Shepard, you can go on your merry way.” Jayne retorted, defiantly, making a shooing gesture at him.

“Early... he must have really scared Kaylee.” Wash felt something stir in him as his wife spoke, the image of Kaylee’s reddened wrists the night before and her shaking form floating into his mind.

“He did more than that.”

His wife looked over at him, confused.

“What do you mean?”

“He tied her up...she had rope burns on her wrists yesterday, Mal asked me to tend to them when you were operating on Simon.”

Zoë’s brows creased into a frown.

“You don’t get rope burns from just being tied up; she’d have to have been struggling to get out of them...you don’t think-?”

Before she could voice the question, they heard the clatter of Inara’s footsteps as she made her way onto the metal steps. The companion halted at the top, clearly not expecting the gathering at the bottom of the bay.

“‘Nara, you got to tell us what’s going on here.” Inara skimmed past Jayne’s complaining form, only stopping when Zoë grasped her elbow lightly.

“Please tell us what’s going on, we’re all worried about Kaylee. We just want to help.”

Inara halted, internally debating what to do. She knew that while it should be Kaylee’s choice what to tell people, realistically she knew the crew would find out; whether they deduced the truth themselves or they made up their own truth. And in the end, anything they could do to help Kaylee, in her current state, would be only beneficial.

Decision made, Inara glanced up at Zoë. Whatever expression she gave Zoë must have given her all the confirmation she needed as she let go with a horrified breath.

“ _No_.” Zoë whispered.

“What?” The simultaneous question from both Wash and Jayne was ignored by both women.

“Is she _okay_?”

“She will be. Mal and Simon will make sure of it.”

“Are we sure Simon is the best person to-?“

“He’s the only Doctor we’ve got.”

“What about the Captain, how’s he taking it all..?”

“He’s not good, he-“

“Will someone tell us what exactly is going on?!”

The volley of half-asked and answered questions was brought to a halt, by Jayne. To the side of the women, Wash and Jayne still stood, both looking as confused as the other.

Hesitating now that she knew the truth, Zoë only spoke once Inara had nodded discreetly.

“Kaylee was attacked by Jubal Early.”

Jayne scoffed impatiently, “We already knew that, you said she had rope burns for crying out loud. Tell us something we don’t know.”

On his other side, the penny finally dropped for Wash; he took a step back, reaching for the wall for support. Jayne frowned, “What am I missing?”

“She wasn’t just hurt by Jubal, she was _attacked_ by him.”

Finally Jayne went ramrod straight, rage filling him, “ _That gorram hú-“_ , he cut himself off as he reached for his gun. His eyes flew around the room, before finding something to spew his anger onto, “ _You_. If you’re so powerful and all knowing, why didn’t you stop it, eh?!”

He moved violently towards River, who’d up till this point been staring dreamily into the corner of the room.

“Don’t-“, Wash moved in-between Jayne and River, only to be pushed back by Zoë getting inbetween him and Jayne,”-blame River. She’s just a child. Blame the _rapist scum_ who broke his way onto the ship.”

The words, finally spoken out loud, echoed loudly around the room.

Jayne’s face uncharacteristically crumpled, “I-I just, why did he have to hurt Kaylee? Why didn’t I wake up? I might’ve been able to stop him from-“

Inara moved closer to Jayne, putting an arm reassuringly on his shoulder. “Jayne, this _isn’t_ your fault. And it’s not River’s either. Wash is right, it was Early’s fault and his fault alone.”

“I just wish there was something I could do, y’know?’

“We can be there for her, like always. And we can make sure she gets through this. Together.”

****

Kaylee woke and, like the earlier morning, felt a strong sense of disorientation; she wasn’t in her bed, nor, even, the floor of her room. As she took in the white of the walls around her, she realised she must be in Serenity’s infirmary.

“C’tain?”

Mal’s head jerked up from it’s position on the bed, instantly focussing on Kaylee. “Mei Mei, you’re awake. How you feeling?”

“‘M a mite tired, is all.”

“Yeah, you fell asleep on us there, but that’s fine. We got you where you needed to go. I’m just gonna get the Doc to look you over-”

Mal saw the look in her eyes, the moment she saw Simon behind him - Simon, who was faced away and packing some medical supplies into cupboards, trying to give them as much privacy as possible.

“-it’s okay, Kaylee. No here will think any less of you. Not if they want to stay on this ship, they won’t. And, if you want, I’ll stay for every step of the way, ‘kay?”

“Thank you, C’ptain. You really are a good c’ptain.”

“And you really are the best mechanic, and I’m not going anywhere.”

Mal held firmly onto Kaylee’s hand as she nodded to Simon. He was going to make sure she was okay. And he knew everyone else would be there for her too.


End file.
